Plan to aid with cladding issues is unveiled by the Welsh Government
SCHEME WILL HELP A ‘SMALL NUMBER OF LEASEHOLDERS IN SIGNIFICANT HARDSHIP’
THE Welsh Government has announced plans to “buy out” people who are unable to sell their properties due to cladding issues.
Julie James, Minister for Climate Change, made a statement last week about a new scheme which will help a “small number of leaseholders” in financial difficulties and ensure new multi-occupied residential buildings will have safety built in.
The Minister said the government will be engaging with residents and leaseholders about the challenges they face and the existing defects in their buildings in order to “find the right solutions for this critical area”.
There is also a new UK Government Bill which will see the time a claim can be brought before the courts for defective construction work extended, and the external envelope on buildings is now a key part of the existing fire safety regime, under the Fire Safety Act.
She said: “All of this means that the future of building safety in Wales will be immeasurably improved.
“Whilst I am excited by these developments, I am very aware that many of you and your constituents are rightly concerned about the challenges currently faced by existing leaseholders.
“I have said repeatedly that leaseholders should not have to pick up the bill to make good their buildings, but I have also said that the solutions are not easy.
“Here in Wales, as in some other parts of the UK, we have said all along that this is about much more than cladding, and not just an issue for those in high-rise blocks.”
Ms James said that although she recognises that the Welsh Government is making good progress by conducting surveys of each individual building’s needs, more will be done to protect those struggling in defective homes.
She said: “There are some for whom the financial pressure of living in these buildings is becoming unbearable.
“I do not want to see people’s longterm futures blighted by bankruptcy, eviction and potential homelessness.
“That is why I am committing to a new Leasehold Support Scheme to help a small number of leaseholders who find themselves in very significant financial hardship.
“Full details of the scheme will be provided in the New Year but I hope to be able to provide the option, in a limited number of cases of very significant financial hardship, for leaseholders to sell up.
“The scheme will target provision where it is most needed in buildings with identified defects where individual leaseholders cannot sell their properties on the open market, and find themselves in significant financial hardship due to escalating costs.”
Ms James said developers and those responsible for these building defects must “step up and do more to resolve this crisis”.
She said: “They created these problems and continue to leave leaseholders facing financial hardship and suffering from stress and anxiety.”
However, not all existing leaseholders are happy about the new scheme.
Mark Thomas is a resident at Celestia apartment block in Cardiff Bay. The 450-property complex was developed in 2006 and has been described as “having very poor or non-existent fire-stopping”.
He said: “Within a few years of moving in, it was apparent there were various building defects involved in the buildings. They involved things like what we call water ingress and soil stack problems – which were quite serious building defects.
“In March 2019, we found out we are missing firebreaks, which triggered a major crisis.
“At the moment, it would cost around £14m-£15m to sort out, as the cladding would have to be replaced with the firebreaks.
“I have been battling for three years to get more support from the government and it’s become almost a 24/7 job, which is why so many residents are depressed.”
Many residents will lose out on tens of thousands of pounds if they decide to sell the property due to the fire safety problems it comes with.
Mark said: “With the announcement made on Tuesday, the question is, at what price would the government purchase my property? Will it be a rate we expect to get in a normal market? That’s a big question that hasn’t been answered.
“The Minister said the scheme will only help a very small minority of leaseholders who are almost bankrupt. Of course, there are a lot of us who aren’t broken by this yet still trying to scrape through.
“We welcome any support from the government but our big concern at the moment is what we still perceive to be, sadly, a lack of urgency from the Welsh Government.”
Mark said he wants the Welsh Government
to implement a properlyfunded Welsh building safety fund.
He said: “All the Welsh Government have announced so far is a fund to carry out surveys – but we have already spent tens of thousands of pounds on the survey.
“We need a properly-funded building fund like the one in England.
“I also don’t understand how while this is all going on, the developers are failing to fix these homes and are just being granted continued permission to build new houses.
“It feels grossly unjust because I think they should be made first of all to remediate our building and have the secure planning permission given after as a reward.
“We want the people who built these buildings to take responsibility
and accountability for them and to repair them – this is the just thing to do.”
Peter Larwood is the former chair of the residents association at Victoria Wharf, another apartment complex of 478 homes in the Bay.
Residents have lost thousands of pounds due to repairs to fix poor internal firebreaks and unstable cladding.
Peter agrees with Mark that the scheme the government proposed is only helpful to a small number of people.
Peter said: “If you can’t sell and you are not chosen to be one of the people the government choose to buy out, then your situation doesn’t change. People who don’t want to move have to deal with the problems which aren’t going to go away.
“Those who do want to move – are they going to get a reasonable value on the property and how will it be determined? I’m retired. I might not have a mortgage but I can’t make any money on my property.
“I’m in the situation where I’m stranded until the repairs are done. These repairs can take up to five years.
“It’s very nice, positive words from the government but I don’t think any of it will happen for a while.
“Even if they do start buying the properties, they become the leaseholder and responsible for all the extra charges.
“If they change the tenancy, is it now a council residence? It changes the value and proportionality of what the flats are all about.
“You start implementing social housing
into a private development. So there’s a lot of unanswered questions.” Peter says he is frustrated how residents are being made to pay for the recommended build spaces, whistles and fencing.
He said: “What needs to happen is that leaseholders must have a much easier way to obtain right to manage so we can get rid of these associations that are charging thousands and thousands of pounds.
“We have to pay charges for the issue, service charges and visual and management fees. They end up staying on site without doing any work with £150,000 a year from us.
“The bottom line is that we can’t sell our flats, we’re stuck. The stress and anxiety is phenomenal. The government need to hear the truth from the right end and not the developers. They need to hear from the real people on the ground about what’s going on.”
The Welsh Government has commented that no details have been confirmed on the scheme yet, although there will be more news at the end of January next year.
A number of buildings in the capital and across Wales were found to have unsafe flammable cladding, while some were found to have other safety defects such as poor compartmentation and firebreaks to stop fires from spreading within buildings. Many need a waking watch, in case a fire does break out. It has been four years since the Grenfell Tower fire exposed widespread fire safety issues in buildings across the UK.
If they do start buying the properties, they become the leaseholder and responsible for all the extra charges
Peter Larwood